About $26,000 worth of hijinks, to be exact. (Just under half of that sum goes toward killing the elephant, which can be done legally in Botswana, but only when one is in possession of very expensive license.)

Now, with no sign of public outrage abating, the king has been forced to release the following statement:

"I am very sorry. I made a mistake and it won't happen again."

Unprecedented.

Royal officials claim the king was on the trip as a guest and that no public funds were used to pay for the vacation. This assertion that has yet to be confirmed.

Animal rights activists are now calling for King Juan Carlos to be stripped of his title...as honorary president of the Spanish branch of the World Wildlife Fund (a group that, interestingly, does condone regulated "trophy hunting" under some circumstances; for example, when it helps reduce poverty that might otherwise lead to widespread poaching for ivory, the number one cause of African elephant deaths.)

The real problem, though, seems to be that hunting just isn't the Spanish royal family's strong suit.

The king issued his apology Wednesday from a hospital, where he had been forced to undergo hip surgery as the result of a fall that occurred while he was in Africa.

A few days prior, his 13-year-old grandson was hospitalized after shooting himself in the foot while hunting on a family estate in Spain. (It is illegal under Spanish law for a 13-year-old to handle the type of gun the boy was carrying. Now we know why.)